Shadows of the Past
by Velopc
Summary: Shen is still looking for Zed in his quest to restore balance after Zed murdered his father. Shen's quest is put on hold when Zed shows up at the place that he thought was the safest. Now Shen must not only keep himself alive, but his remaining friends as well. (Reviews welcome).
1. Chapter 1

The match was over. It had been a grueling battle against a Cho'Gath in the top lane, but his team had been victorious. But it didn't matter to Shen, he had bigger fish to fry than a some crazy monster straight out of a child's nightmare. Shen roamed through the halls of the institute searching for the summoner that had promised him the information he needed about Zed's whereabouts. He found the summoner sitting in the institute's library with Akali and Kennen already there.

"Alright summoner I've done what you asked of me, now it's your turn to hold up your end of the bargain."

"So pushy Shen, I thought you're job was to preserve balance. You cannot preserve the balance if you yourself cannot keep your frustration in check," the summoner said all of this while he was getting a lot of papers out and placing them on the desk.

Shen fumed a little, and was glad for about the millionth time in his life that his mask helped conceal his emotions from everyone. Taking a deep breath he calmed himself and turned back to the summoner.

"Alright summoner, tell me the information that I seek about Zed," the summoner smiled at that, although it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"That's more like the Shen I know, and please Spike will be fine, I'm not as formal as the other summoners. He looked down at the papers he had set in-front of the three of them. "Tell me, do any of you know what these are?"

"They look like an application to the League," Spike jumped a little as Akali's voice came from behind him. Sometimes it was nerve racking to work with the Kinkou ninjas.

"Yes, I'm afraid you're right," Spike started looking back to Shen, "these are an application to the League."

"So? So? What does it mean? Huh? What is it?"Kennen was literally bouncing off the walls with his excitement. Shen on the other hand had sat down suddenly at the table right across from Spike.

"Shen? What's going on?" Akali had noticed and a note of panic was slipping into her voice.

"It can't be," Shen started the usual glint in his eyes dimming.

"I'm afraid it is," Spike stated, "For some reason, unknown to me, the League has interviewed Zed and has found him worthy of holding a spot as a champion on the Fields of Justice."

…...

Shen had slumped over in his seat, the usual strength that surrounded him gone. He had only looked like this once before and that was the night they had escaped after Zed has killed his father. It was unsettling to see him this way, and it didn't calm Akali's nerves in the slightest.

"Summoner, surely you're joking? I thought the League had very specific rules against bringing in champions that pose a threat to anyone inside of the Institute." The panic in Akali's voice was very clear and she had taken a step back from the table as if Zed was going to step out of the shadows behind Spike.

"Akali, I'm afraid that if the League actually took that rule seriously their wouldn't be any champions at all. All the major disputes between Demacia and Noxus are decided here. Same with Ionia and Noxus. Zaun and Piltover, you name the rivalry and we have had some fight here because of it." Spike looked a little defeated after he finished his statement, as if the weight of what he had said just hit him.

"According to the rules of the institute, champions are not allowed to fight each other outside of matches, and anyone who murders a fellow champion faces the death penalty themselves," Spike looked at all of them one by one, "Even with these rules in place I would advise you to all to take extreme caution," Spike didn't expect the ninjas to be less than ready for anything that might happen, he was just covering his butt, and the ninjas new it. They thanked him and left the library quickly. They headed down to the mess hall to grab something before they all met up again in Shen's quarters. Although saying the met up again is a little bit of a stretch, because they were never more than a few feet away from each other at any given time.

Shen looked around the room at his comrades, and friends, wondering what they could do this time. He was a good strategist, but nowhere near level of Jarven, Swain, and above all his father. Shen felt the familiar emptiness in his gut as he thought of his father even for a brief moment. The empty feeling turned to dread as the thought stuck him that Zed would probably be living in the same area as them sense he was technically from Ionia.

Shen looked at his friends again, noticing how the electricity from Kennen was now shooting off a little bit more randomly than normal, and how Akali had her hands resting on her Kama's, as if she expected to fight someone at any second. An Uneasiness came over Shen ,

"This place is not in balance with the rest of the world,"

"Of course it isn't Shen. Even I can see that and I'm not the Eyes of Twilight"

Shen felt the heat rising to his cheeks. For the second time that day he was glad that his mask covered his facial expressions. He hadn't realized that he had spoken out loud, but thankfully Kennen's big mouth had prevented Shen from saying something that might have truly been embarrassing.

"I am sorry Kennen, I didn't realize that I was thinking out loud. Please forgive my carelessness."

"Yeah, I forgive you Shen. Now can we please come up with some sort of plan before I blow a fuse over here?" To emphasize his point Kennen let loose a few static charges through his fingers into the ground.

"If there is one thing that we know, it is that new champions are not immediately let into the Institute. That means we have a little time to get ready before Zed shows up. We need to ask the summoners to give us full access to the training areas until then so we can ready ourselves. Try not to get into to many matches between now and then."

Shen could see that this relaxed the other two a little bit. Having even the smallest of plans helped calm the nerves on all of them.

"As of right now I suggest that we get some sleep, for tomorrow we will start training to fight shadows instead of using them."

Kennen nodded about five times and shot out the door before Shen could even say anything else to him. Shen had already gotten up and was moving to clean and sharpen his swords when he noticed that Akali was still there.

"Fist of Shadow?" Akali snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Shen, expecting some sort of reprimand for loosing focus.

"I know you use the shadows as a tool and a great weapon, but there is a reason Zed is called the master of shadows. Please do not get yourself hurt when you think you are safe in the shadows."

"Yes Eyes of Twilight," Akali bowed and left the room. She was glad that Shen had given her advice, even though she had already thought of it herself. But one thing stuck out more than anything else. Shen had said please to her, and he never said that to anyone.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Shen awoke the next morning before the sun was halfway across the horizon. He quickly dressed and left to the training facilities of the institute. Even at this early in the morning, the League champion Jax was standing by the door in his usual place.

"Shen I know you ninjas train hard, but this seams a little excessive, even for you three."

"Thank you for your concern Grandmaster, but I would like to request the use of this facility for the foreseeable future," Shen knew he was testing his luck with the grandmaster, who didn't like anyone taking over his training area for more than the allotted two hours for each group of champions.

Jax Leaned forward on his lamppost as if he was peering into Shen's soul for his real intentions. And for all Shen knew Jax was doing just that. Nobody was sure what went on behind his metal mask.

"I can see that you are worried about something that is going to happen to you in the near future concerning old enemies," Shen almost shuddered as he heard Jax say this. Apparently he could see into his soul.

"But that is not the only reason you came here is it?" Shen remained expressionless as Jax continued talking. "You want to train not to kill, but to protect. You are very interesting Shen, not many people put the safety of others above the safety of themselves. But you seem to have one person in piticular on your mind," Jax leaned back against the wall, silent laughter shaking his shoulders.

"My Shen, I never thought you were the romantic type, tell me, how does someone who's job in life is to remain unmoved by emotions find the time to have a love life?"

Shen felt a wave of cold fear run down from his head to his toes. He could not believe what he had just heard from the grandmaster. He stood unmoving willing his body not to show any signs of anger of embarrassment at what the grandmaster had said.

"So will you be so kind as to let my fellow Kinkou ninjas and I use this training facility grandmaster?"

Shen heard Jax sigh from behind his mask.

"Alright Shen you can have it all of today, but no promises for tomorrow, or any other time alright? And don't worry about what I said today. The secrets I learn are never repeated. I didn't get the title of Grandmaster because I talked my head off about all the secrets I learned."

"Thank you Grandmaster," Shen said bowing deeply, "I will see to it that any damages that may occur will be fixed by either myself or my fellow ninjas, although I do not think the heart of the tempest will find much pleasure in fixing things."

"Alright Shen you're welcome, but lighten up a little will ya?"

The Grandmaster pushed open the doors to the training area and pointed to a corner room.

"You see that? That is where you three will have to stay when the bigger city-states such as Demacia and Noxus come her to train. That and they don't like outsiders watching there training, they think it gives their strategies away."

"Thank you once again Grandmaster, and we will be sure to abide by the rules that we have set before us."

"Good, otherwise I'd have to hit you offside the head with my lamppost, " Shen bowed again and started to walk away

"Oh and Shen," Shen turned around once more at the sound of his name, "I wonder how you've been able to train with this girl if she really means as much to you as I saw."

Shen was rooted to the spot. How did he know all of this? The Grandmaster laughed and waved over his shoulder as he walked away. Shen could only stare after him as he couldn't very well do anything about what the Grandmaster had said. And beating the Grandmaster into silence was something that could not be done easily. They didn't call him the Grandmaster for nothing.

…...

It was sometime later when Akali and Kennen showed up at the training grounds, (although it was much earlier than usual), to find Shen staring off into the distance behind them. It wasn't his usual stare that seamed to pierce through a persons soul either. It was as if he had started daydreaming.

"Shen? Are you feeling alright? "

Shen snapped out of his trance and looked at Akali, only to look away a little faster than normal.

"Thank you for your concern Fist of Shadows, but I am perfectly normal. The Grandmaster has given us permission to use this facility as long as we need to today, as long as we stay out of the way of the larger city-states, and fix anything we break. Let us begin."

Akali nodded and followed Shen over to the sparing area. This was how their morning usually started and it was a great way to work out the drowsiness that comes with the morning.

"Kennen I will spar you first."

This took Akali by surprise, as she was usually the first one to spar, no matter who it was.

"Shen is something wrong? Usually I spar with the first person no matter who it is."

"Nothing is wrong Fist of Shadows. I just think that Kennen will do a better job of waking me up with his electricity."

Kennen grinned at the thought of sending Shen to the ground, smoking with all the energy that he would shoot at him. Akali on the other had was still slightly miffed about the whole thing, but didn't let it show. She to was grateful for the mask that hid her emotions from the rest of the world.

She stepped to the side and started her usual training routine among the training dummies. She hacked and slashed and demolished every last one of the dummies, but her heart wasn't into the routine like it usually was. She couldn't stop her brain from trying to figure out what was wrong with Shen. She hadn't seen him act this way before, not even when they were both in their awkward stages of their teen years, before Shen had become the Eye of Twilight. It wasn't like him to blow off the usual course of action, all with some lame excuse that he needed to wake up. Akali had seen him go for days without sleep, and still best anyone that fought him.

Akali was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't notice that Shen and Kennen were done sparing, and waiting for her so they could continue their training. Akali decapitated the last dummy without so much as looking in the direction she had swung, almost cutting through a support beam in the wall.

"Fist of Shadows, I hope you realize that as part of our deal with the Grandmaster, we have to repair any damages made to his facility."

Akali stopped and looked over at Shen, who was staring at her, but not quite meeting her eyes.

"I know Eye of Twilight, and you should know as well as I that these dummies are enchanted to repair themselves after a training session is over. Or did whatever happened to you this morning make you forget that?"

Shen could feel the heat rising to his cheeks as he had 1) not only forgotten that the dummies we enchanted but 2) What Jax had said to him earlier was actually the reason that he had overlooked such a simple thing. He was distracted, and that was something that he simply could not allow.

"For our next training exercise we will be trying our best to simulate fighting Zed. Fist of Shadow you will need to Shadow dance as often as you can during our sparing in order to slightly mimic the living shadows that Zed uses."

Akali nodded, although she was worried slightly about the exercise. She had never used the shadow dance more than five times in a row before, and she seriously wondered how long she could dance until it ripped her muscles apart.

The fight started. Screw calling it sparing because Akali was trying her hardest to land blows on Shen from as many different directions as she could. She would start a jab or kick in one direction, then dance a quarter turn to the right or left and come at Shen from a completely different angle altogether. It was tiring work, and after about five minutes of battle she was feeling the strain on her legs. Once she actually stutter stepped before she could dance behind Shen again. The last time she had stutter stepped was when she had first tried to shadow dance, and even then it was a mistake made by a newbie.

Akali forced herself to concentrate harder, ignoring the pain that came to her every time she moved. She felt her legs starting to give way, her vision was becoming a tunnel. She couldn't stop, she wouldn't stop. She would prove to Shen that she was able to do anything that needed to be done. Slowly she started to slip away, her vision narrowing little by little. The last thing she remembered before she black out was Shen's face.

…...

"Akali? Akali? Please snap out of it!"

She woke with a start, only to fall back into her bed because she couldn't move her legs. She tried to suppress the rising fear that was coming over her, and also the pain that was starting to creep up her body. In the end it was to no avail, as a tear fell from her right eye. The only eye that Shen could see at that moment.

"I am sorry Shen. I failed in my attempt to help you train for Zed. I will welcome whatever punishment you see fit Eye of Twilight."

Akali would not meet Shen eyes when she spoke, for she knew weakness was not something that was expected from a Kinkou ninja.

To her surprise Shen hugged her, pulling her tight like she was his sister or something. Akali had no idea how to react, she just sat there staring at him like an idiot, not doing anything.

Shen quickly recovered himself and bowed deeply.

"I am truly sorry for making you do something so stupid as to end up in the condition you are. I should not let my own personal vendettas get in the way of taking care of my friends. Please forgive me."

Akali did not know what to say. She had never heard Shen ask for someones forgiveness, unless it was for formal reasons. Never had she heard an actual apology from him. After a few seconds Akali finally managed to find her voice again.

"Yes Shen I forgive you, and I do not think that his was your fault. I tried to push myself past my own limits and I now have to suffer the consequences. By the way, how long have I been unconscious? More than a few minutes if I'm lying here in my bed."

Shen looked at the ground again and mumbled something that wasn't quite loud enough for Akali to hear.

"I'm sorry Shen I couldn't hear what you said, would you please repeat that?"

"You've been out for nearly three weeks now," Shen started, still not looking Akali in the face, "and whats more I have more bad news for you. You will need to recover as quickly as you can because tomorrow Zed is scheduled to show up at the institute."

"Ah but my old friends, why on earth would I listen to what they suggest, when my own way seams to work much better?"

Akali saw Shen go stiff at the sound of the familiar voice, but she was to busy staring over Shen's shoulder to notice to much of what was happening to Shen.

"You, why on earth...It can't be real," was all Akali could manage.

The figure grinned a wicked something at Akali.

"Hello my dearest, you don't know how good it is to see you again."

Akali just sat there saying nothing, but then Shen stood up.

"Its good to see you to my old friend Zed."

Zed grinned again.

"Friend? Now that's something I haven't heard in a long long time Shen."

It was to much for Akali, she fainted again.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Ah look Shen, It seems that your girlfriend has fainted again. Perhaps you should help your damsel in distress."

It was back to the old days then, when everything Zed said and did was to get under Shen's skin and piss him off. Shen would really have to control himself in this encounter if he still wanted to be considered as the credible Eye of Twilight.

"Zed, why do you seek a reaction from the Eye of Twilight. You know as well as I do that I was able to watch my own father get tortured without moving a single muscle to help him."

"My my, and you people call me a monster because I killed the old man. You wouldn't even put him out of his misery. But anyhow, its a good thing that you didn't say anything about Akali being your girlfriend cause that would go against what just occurred to me."

"And what would that be Zed?"

"Well I am the Master of Shadows, and Akali is the fist of Shadows," Shen could see where this was going. Apparently Zed hadn't really grown up much sense they parted ways, "That being said you know what my fist does on occasion?"

"I haven't the slightest clue as to what you're talking about,"

Zed smiled at Shen and made a gesture as if he were stroking his manhood.

"The fist tends to please me from time to time,"

The glint in Zed's eyes was almost enough to send Shen over the edge, although he did not let it show on his face, or in his body language. How was it that he could watch his father get tortured and not move, but make one crud joke about Akali and he was ready to go all in to a fight?

Before anything else could happen Shen was saved by a furry purple mass that came zooming in between Zed's legs.

"Oh, I guess I;m a little late to tell you that Zed has shown up," Kennen started staring at the Master of Shadows. "hey Zed if you're doing what I think you're doing, than those are some awfully short strokes you're doing there. I knew that your shadows helped you with your weaknesses, but that's something not even a shadow will help."

Zed's eyes were glowing red with anger, and It amused Shen to see how one little insult could have such an effect on the man.

"Why you little piece of..."

"Zed," Shen cut him off before anything could happen. "I'm sure you're aware that as a champion you are not allowed to attack other champions outside of matches."

Zed was reaching for Kennen as if to strangle him, and Shen could see the electricity built up on Kennen's fingers. The force of which would probably send Zed head over heals into the back wall, but would surely start a fight, which was the one thing Shen was trying to avoid. He quickly stepped between them.

"I would strongly advise you not to strangle Kennen, Zed. It would be a shame for you to be thrown in jail on your very first day as a champion."

"I'm not a champion yet, so all of your rules don't apply to me."

Suddenly there was a knock at the door as Soraka came into the room. She frowned at the scene that stood before her, and immediately silenced the whole group.

"How can you do that if you can only silence one target in matches?" Kennen was oblivious that he had barely missed death and was his usual self again. Soraka smiled at what he said kept walking over to Akali's bed.

"Did you know that they limit my powers on the rift? Otherwise I'd just sit in the back and heal my team from across the map the whole time."

"Wait, so they only let you use your full power as your ultimate?"

"No, they let me use my normal powers as my ultimate."

Kennen was stunned. He couldn't quite grasp the concept of this fragile mage wielding so much power, even if she was a healer.

Zed on the other hand was furious.

"Tell me weakling what you have done to me or I will cut your horn off."

Soraka looked at the bad tempered ninja with a glare that could cut through steel. In the end she just waved her hand again and Zed was once more stripped of his powers.

"Look bud, in the institute they limit everyone's powers, especially in the mess hall and the gyms. I happen to be the exception to the rule as healers are allowed their full powers outside of matches so that they can take care of everyone. Sense I'm the go to healer I'm obviously pretty powerful, so I wouldn't mess with me." She started to walk away when she turned back one last time. "Oh and if you keep this up I'll just have to give you a banana."

Zed stared in utter confusion after the mage as she continued across the room.

"What does she mean by, 'give me the banana'?"

"Her attacks look like she throws bananas," Kennen said, always the quick one to respond.

Shen was still standing between Zed and his friends, and was not looking forward to what would happen when Zed remembered what he was there for. I took him a few seconds but Zed finally looked back at Shen.

"Well it doesn't seam like I'll be able to do anything here sense that, _thing, _is still here, but I'll see you later Shen. Who knows? Its quite possible we'll be put on the same teams for matches."

"Than I look forward to see how you manage to kill the others and not me."

Zed smirked a bit, but left without another comment.

"Shen I don't know about you but that shadow over there looks like Zed to me."

Shen looked to where Kennen had pointed and noticed that their was indeed a living shadow propped up against the wall. Shen took a quick step over to It and thrust his blade into its head. The shadow dissolved into the floor as if nothing had been out of place to begin with.

Shen walked over to Soraka as she was checking on Akali. Shen dared not interrupt her during her work, so he just stood there, as still as a statue. Eventually Soraka turned around to address him.

"Shen I need to know if anythings changed with her condition. Has she woken up, or has a side effect besides the muscle failure in her legs shown up?"

"No Miss. Soraka. No other side effects have made themselves apparent, and yes, Akali did wake up momentarily before Zed showed up here. Then the shock of not being able to control her body and seeing our worst enemy caused her to faint again."

"I see. Well in that case then it looks like you guys will have to just wait a little longer for her to wake up. When she does tell her that she should be able to walk within a day, and then make sure she doesn't kill herself trying to train hard again."

Shen felt a tugging in his gut but didn't mention the fact that he had been the one to pretty much order Akali to go to her breaking point. He thanked Soraka and led her out of the room, all the while keeping his eyes on the shadows just in case Zed actually tried something. He returned to the room to find Kennen lying on his back on Akali's stomach. He seamed to have lost his limitless energy somehow, but Shen new better.

"Heart of the Tempest. Do you not think it rude to rest yourself on an unconscious woman's breasts?"

Kennen looked at Shen like he was insane or something.

"Look Shen this is one of the few times I get to do this,and for some reason it calms me down a lot. You do not...well maybe you do know how terrifying it is to face down Zed like we just did. But you should try this Shen, it is relaxing, and I bet you she would let you so it if you asked her."

Shen kept his gaze steady and didn't show any signs of reaction on his body, but his mind was racing. Was it possible that Kennen knew something about Shen.

"Now why on earth would you say something like that Kennen?"

Kennen grinned and took of out the door in a flash,

"Just remember what I said Shen. You're pretty smart, I'm sure you can figure it out for yourself."

Shen sighed when he was sure his friend was out of earshot, and resumed his position that he had been sitting in for the past couple of days.

…...

Akali woke up again, this time feeling a little better than before. She still couldn't feel her legs, and that scared her. The thought of not being able to move like she had always done sent shivers down her spine. She looked to the side of her bed and saw that Shen was sitting with his back to her watching the door. She meant to say something to him, maybe something funny to break the serious mood around the room but all she was able to get out was a muffled, "...huuurrrghph..."

Shen looked over at her to she what was wrong. Akali felt the heat rising in her cheeks and she looked away.

"Akali is there something wrong? You sound like you are choking on something."

Akali's felt the heat in her face rise a couple of degrees. Once she was sure that she could talk like she normally did she turned back to face Shen.

"No Shen I'm not choking, My throat was just dry. And what happened this time when I was passed out?"

"Well Zed tried to make us fight him in the middle of this room, Soraka showed up and did another check up on you, and Kennen was resting his head on your tits."

Shen froze. What on earth had possessed him to say that last part? He carefully looked down at Akali to she what her reaction was, but noticed that she was looking away from him again. Good they would both need to recover from that awkward situation. Shen stood there and waited for Akali to say something, not trusting himself to speak again.

"So, what did Soraka say when she came in?"

Shen was grateful for the change in topic. He knew he couldn't say anything to mess this up.

"She said that you should be able to stand starting tomorrow, but that you shouldn't start training for some time. Other than your leg problem we have no idea what might have happened to the rest of your body, so if something does feel off, tell us and will get you straight back here."

Akali just nodded and stared straight ahead. She wasn't really happy with the news that she wouldn't be back to full strength for some time. But she guessed it could be worse, considering she wasn't paralyzed.

…...

The day went on without anything exciting happening. Sure their was a massive fight between Jayce and Viktor, but that ended quickly when Vi smashed her bare fist, (because the summoners didn't let her wear her gauntlets inside the institute), into the back of Viktor's rather hard head. The Demacians and the Noxians traded insults from across the mass hall, and all the un-allied champs just walked around talking to anyone that would stop for a chat.

Akali couldn't stand it. Even if everyone was just repeating what they did day in and day out, she missed it and hatted being stuck in her bed. She looked over to the corner that was currently being occupied by Kennen, as Shen was fighting right now.

"Kennen, why is Shen so protective about us even though we are in the safest place possible?"

Kennen didn't answer immediately, and just looked at her with an expression that read, you really don't understand?

"You really don't understand do you," Akali cringed as Kennen said what she had thought he would, "Shen has this exaggerated sense of duty to us, sense we're the survivors of Zed's massacre. He hates the fact that we can be killed an infinite number of times on the rift, but he is the Eye of Twilight, so he only makes his decisions based on what is the best course of action. His emotions have been almost nonexistent in his decisions until we heard that Zed was showing up. Now his decisions are almost all based on his emotions toward the both of us, but you mostly."

Akali was taken aback, and she could feel her cheeks turning red from embarrassment. Shen making decisions based on how he felt about her? That was ridicules.

"Kennen I think you're mistaken, Shen never makes a decision based on emotion, only reason."

"Akali you can really be slow for someone who's main tool is their intellect. Shen likes you and you should just get used to that fact, but get used to it quickly, I'd rather not be in the middle of you and finding your true feelings."

Akali just stared at him dumbfounded. How could this be? Sure Shen was nice to her, but nothing had let on that he actually liked her. He wasn't hesitant to throw her to the ground, or hit her as hard as he could when they spared. In the end she decided that she would wait till she could walk before she did anything about it.

Evening rolled around and Shen came back into her room.

"Did ya win?" Kennen asked not wondering why Shen was carrying two duffel bags. One noticeably smaller than the other.

"No, my team lost. The Curator of the Sands was against me, and due to my skill set I could not keep him from stacking his axes power."

"Shen if you don't mind me asking, why exactly do you have those bags?"

Shen turned his blank stare to Akali, who immediately felt nervousness rising in her stomach. It didn't help that Kennen kept looking back and forth between her and Shen, smiling the whole time.\

"The bags contain a set of cloths and hygiene items for myself and Kennen. Before you ask I have decided that it would be safer for us to stay together during the night. The time shadows are their darkest."

Akali heart was racing. Shen? In her room? This was going to be a very awkward situation for them all.

"As an extra safety precaution we will take it in shifts to keep an eye out for dangers. Even with the institute's rules I still do not trust Zed. I will take the first shift, and Akali, you do not have to take a shift tonight."

It didn't matter to Akali, but she wasn't going to be falling asleep anytime soon after staying in bed all day. Add on the extra fainting episode she had and she could be awake for days on end. She ended up staying up just as late as Shen. She only found herself feeling tired when Shen woke up Kennen. She noticed that Shen started to sit down at the foot of her bed. She hesitated for a second stealing a glance in Kennen's direction before she spoke.

"Shen?"

"Yes Akali?"

"It's awfully uncomfortable on the ground. Why don't you sleep next to me instead?"

She saw Shen stiffen for a second, and she thought she had pushed her luck to far. His reply came after a few minutes of silence.

"Alright Akali, if you don't mind I will sleep next to you."

She couldn't believe what had just happened. Maybe Kennen was right about something for once.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Shen didn't know what was happening. Not once had he let slip anything about his personal feelings, but all the sudden here was Akali asking him to sleep in her bed. He tried to push back the images that were rising in his head, with more success than most men could achieve. He just had to stay on the opposite side of the bed from her, that was all he had to do. He rolled over so that his back was facing her and without a sound he fell asleep.

…...

He woke up the next morning before sunrise as he always did, but something was different about it this time. Shen hadn't opened his eyes yet, but something was off about what was around him. The answer came to him in a soft yawn from right next to him. Shen opened his eyes in shock to find Akali held under his arm in front of him. He didn't move, not wanting to wake the others and put himself in an embarrassing situation. He slowly started to lift his arm off of Akali, but she rolled over to face him, still asleep. Shen froze again, not wanting to wake her up. He was starting to wonder how he would ever get out of this when he caught himself starting at Akali's face, and to his utter horror, she was staring right back at him.

"Shen," she said softly, still trying to fully wake up, "Is their any particular reason why you were spooning me?"

Shen's face flushed with embarrassment. Akali was surprised at that. She had never seen Shen get embarrassed before. She giggled a little, and noticed that Shen was starting to get up.

"I am sorry for any intrusion of your privacy fist of shadows, It will not happen again."

Akali sighed. And here she thought that Shen was going to mellow out a little bit. But that was about as emotional as Shen would get most of the time, so Akali didn't really know why it bothered her. It took Akali a little longer than usual to get ready, but she made her way down to the gym only a few minutes behind everyone else. Kennen and Shen were already sparing as she made her way over to one of the treadmills. Nothing too extreme for her exercise. She was to just building up leg strength, as ordered by both Shen and Soraka. The unfortunate part about just running was that it gave her way to much time to think. Akali started daydreaming about Ionia, and the secret places she had found around the temple. It took her a while but she noticed that Shen and Kennen were standing right in front of her waiting. She stopped running and blushed a little, thankful yet again for the mask that covered her face. She had been daydreaming again and was at the mercy of Shen's judgment for her actions.

"Since you seam to be recovering well Fist of Shadow, I will begin running you through forums and techniques to help you become reacquainted with your old habits."

"Yes Eye of Twilight, what would you have me start with."

"Start with the kibadachi and hold yourself there. And by the way Heart of the Tempest, you're not getting out of this either. We will all practice the basics today."

Kennen groaned a little as he had been trying to sneak out of the gym at the prospect of Shen training only Akali today. He reluctantly stepped back into the gym and noticed that Shen and Akali were already in their stances. And here he was usually the fist one to move.

They were positioned in a triangle like set up, with Shen's back to the other Ionian Champions so as not to be distracted. It didn't help Akali or Kennen that they had to concentrate not only on what they were doing, but also on ignoring the training going on behind them, (currently Master Yi was sparing Wukong and everyone was watching). It was a lot harder than Akali remembered to hold the stance and after a few minutes she felt sweat dropping from her forehead. Kennen and Shen on the other hand looked as if this was something they did when they were bored, (and it probably was). It took a while, but Akali found her second wind and was able to keep training. The basics were a lot harder than people let on she thought. After switching through the various stances Akali found herself running again. Another who knows how many miles lay ahead of her, and this was supposed to be light training. In a sense it was light training if she was at full strength, but after a few days of just sitting in bed, she was feeling her legs turn to jelly.

She only noticed something was wrong when Everyone stopped talking and was staring at her. She felt the embarrassment of being the center of attention, (which ninjas try to avoid), but she didn't let it show. Besides she felt that her face was red enough from all the exercise she was doing that it wouldn't really make that much of a difference if she blushed or not.

"Akali, don't stop running."

She looked at Shen in annoyance. Couldn't he see that her body wasn't able to keep up like it had been before? He himself had said he wouldn't push her beyond her limits again, so why the sudden change? Before she could voice any of this she heard another voice from behind her.

"That's right sweetheart, listen to him and don't stop running."

It didn't take imagination to see the wicked smile forming on Zed's face. Akali stumbled slightly at the sound of Zed's voice in her ear, and even though she caught herself, she felt the tip of a blade cut through her cloths and draw a small bead of blood. It was something straight out of a nightmare. She was running with Zed holding a blade to her back, and if she stopped even for a split second, she would be dead.

"It's funny how this symbolizes real life isn't it? Sense I took over all you three have been doing is running from my blade." Zed was still smiling his maniac smile but he moved his blade away from Akali's back. A second later Akali stumbled again and was thrown backwards into Zed. Shen took note of a carefully placed elbow into Zed's solar plexus that Akali managed to land. Akali got up onto the bench using mostly her arms to move herself, while Zed was trying to catch his breath.

"My my, I knew you were a feisty one, but I didn't know you liked it that rough."

Akali's face remained impassive at the implications Zed had mentioned. Zed slid himself up so his back rested on the bench and held his chest for a second.

"You know for someone who hasn't been training to much that sure packed a beating behind it," Zed looked up at Shen before continuing, "So sense it seams that I wont be getting out of her without a few bruises, you mind telling me just why everyone staring?"

"None of the other Ionians expected you to try and train with us Zed. They all expected you to train with the un-allied champions, not unlike Syndra."

"Now why wouldn't I train with the very people that helped me become who I am today?"

"Do not speak as if you are still one of us."

Shen's voice hadn't changed, and neither had his body language, but Akali saw a shining in his eyes that hinting that Zed had hit a sore spot in Shen's mind. Zed apparently saw the same thing.

"My Shen isn't the Eye of Twilight not supposed to show any emotion towards situations? I'd hate for you to lose your status in front of the Ionian council. Considering that the only reason you're on it is because you are the Eye of Twilight."

"I am also there because I am the head of the Kinkou ninjas."

"The self promoted head of an organization with only three people? That's not a lot of credibility."

"It used to be much more than the three of us. Your order of the shadows is responsible for our small numbers."

"Than that just goes to show who had the better grasp of power."

"Is that a challenge Zed?"

"It is Shen, I've been dieing to spar someone sense I got here, why not the on person I want dead the most?"

Shen nodded and stepped over to the sparing arena. Zed stood up to follow but was stopped by a tugging on his arm. He turned to see Akali holding his arm in an iron grip.

"If I sense any sort of foul play Zed I will kill you right here in front of everyone."

Akali suppressed a shiver as she sensed Zed smiling at her behind his mask.

"I wouldn't worry about that if I were you sweetheart, you wouldn't know were to look for my shadows."

As he said this Akali felt the cold fingers of a living shadow slide up her thigh. She couldn't hold back the shiver this time, and hated herself for showing any signs of weakness in front of Zed. Zed started to walk away, but then all the sudden vanished. Akali felt her body get crushed as Zed turned into the shadow that was touching her.

"You see Akali, this is only the most basic of my tricks. Do you think Shen could really beat me now?"

"Zed I believe you said you would spar me. And I'm also quite confident that you didn't mention anything about molesting Akali."

Zed looked up at Shen, still holding Akali in his vice like grip, rather suggestively.

"Are you upset because I'm hurting her, or because you want to do this to her yourself?"

"Whatever gave you that idea Zed?"

"Don't lie to me Shen, you've always been a bad lair. Even when we played cards as kids you couldn't bluff your way out of anything. Now back to my point I've seen the way you look at her, and the fact that you stayed in the same room as her last night is a very interesting development. I didn't think the Eye of Twilight was allowed to be romanticly involved with anyone."

Shen could feel the anger building up inside of him, but he refused to let it surface.

"It's funny how you only mentioned me staying in her room, when the Heart of the Tempest was there as well."

"Really? Must of looked over his head, or maybe it was because he snuck off to find a certain yordel to talk to."

Kennen was thankful that Shen didn't look at him. It was true he had been gone while he was on watch, but it was only for a minute and he really had to pee. The fact that he ran into someone at three in the morning was a total coincidence.

"What difference does it make Zed? Are you so determined to try and ruin my standings on the council that you would stay up all night to watch my actions? And before you answer I think you've been feeling Akali's body for to long. Release her Zed."

"Are you seriously trying to order me around? Remember what happened..."

All the sudden Shen was right beside him looking straight into Zed's eyes, his face inched from Zed's.

"I said to release her."

The tone of Shen's voice hadn't changed, but the atmosphere around the three ninjas suddenly felt hostile. Blood was about to be spillt and no one knew who was going to strike first. The staring contest continued for a minute when Master Yi appeared.

"Enough of this," he growled, "I know you ninjas do not have the same philosophy as the followers of Wuju, but even I can see that this is not the right thing to do by your teachings."

"What do you know of my phillosophy old man? I have broken from the Kinkou orfer and become something better."

"Old I may be but I can still keep up with your shadows young one. I hope you've been watching me so you know what hits you."

Zed looked at Yi for what felt like a long stretch of time before he finaly released Akali.

"Fine I'll stay my blade for now, but I hope I get to kill you all in the near future just to prove what I ave become. I also want you to reconsider Shen's place on your council. He hasn't been able to follow all of the rules that where stated on his acceptance to the position as the Eye of Twilight."

"One more piece of advice young one. Wuju states that all things must be balanced. The way that you are the darkness Shen would never embrace is a kind of balance that the world requires. If balance in one's life requires them to be with someone the consider special, that it should be their sole goal to achieve that balance. Shen is the keeper of balance, so any way he sees fit to keep it is fine by me."

Zed looked like he was actually considering What the Wuju master had said before his body language turned back to its usual arrogant stance.

"Well if that's actually work then I shouldn't have been exiled from Ionia. Think about that on _Master _Yi. I only balance out the light in this world with darkness."

Yi said nothing, just standing there between Shen and Zed. Akali had been smart enough to move from the bench to stand behind Shen, but not without pain shooting through her body. The staring contest continued for some time between Yi and Zed, but Zed looked over Yi's small form to talk to Shen again.

"It seams like I wont be able to fight you this time Shen. Maybe will see each other on the rift."

Zed left them there to wonder what his next move would be. Truth to be told he didn't know yet either, he just liked to keep others guessing.

"I think that will conclude our training for the day, agreed?"

Kennen was nodding furiously and shot off towards the bathroom area of the gym. Akali on the other hand stumbled forward and had to grab onto Shen's arm to hold herself up.

"Fist of Shadows I know that every encounter with Zed is terrifying, but it does not grant you the right to fall down because of it."

Akali felt both anger and embarrassment well up inside of her.

"No Shen I'm not falling over because Zed scares me, you've worked me hard enough today that my legs are giving out."

Akali caught a brief glimpse of emotion pass over Shen's face before he put his arm around her to hold her up.

"In that case I will help you. Is this good, or do I need to carry you back?"

"No Shen you don't need to carry me, I can make it with this much help. It was a little awkward walking through all the Ionian councilors, and the rest of the champions in general with Shen's arm around her. It turned out that about three fourths of the way back to her room her legs did finally give out and Shen had to carry her. She tried lying to herself but she actually enjoyed the feeling of being held in Shen's arms. Shen laid her down in her bed and then sat in the seat that he had occupied for the majority of his time with her.

"Rest now Fist of Shadows, I will wake you when it is time to eat."

Akali just nodded and fell asleep almost instantly.

…...

"Fist of Shadows you must wake up now."

Shen was shaking Akali by the shoulders trying to wake her up for dinner, but to no avail.

"Kennen would you mind shocking her?"

"With pleasure."

Shen didn't want to hurt her anymore, but this method had been proven on many occasions to be the best way to wake someone up. Unfortunately for Kennen, Akali's first reaction to pain was to hit whatever was causing her said pain. Kennen flew through the air and hit the far wall, landing in a purple heap on the floor.

"Warn me about that next time Shen."

"No need to, you will learn form your mistake. Now Fist of Shadows it is time we eat."

Akali was quite pissed to say the least, but she had to force down a laugh at the way Shen had simply dismissed Kennen complaint. They walked down to the mess hall and ate at their usual corner. Shen was glad to see that Zed had spared them another one of his appearances and was eating with the group of exiles in the other corner of the mess hall. They ate in silence and then left to go back to Akali's room, which had turned into a dorm for them. Shen had found the materials to make a small bed for Kennen earlier that day and there was a bedspread on the floor. Shen's and Kennen's weapons had been moved to an empty corner of the room, (which was pretty much all of them sense ninjas don't keep to much to begin with). Shen sat down in the chair at the foot of Akali's bed and assumed his part night long stare at any shadow that moved a little to much for his liking.

Shen preferred to take the first watch because it meant he could get uninterrupted sleep for the rest of the night. It also gave him time to think things through before he slept, so that his brain wouldn't keep him up at night. He felt a light tapping on his shoulder and turned around to see Akali.

"Uh Shen, I know you've got your bedroll on the floor, but you can still sleep next to me if you want to."

Akali could only see a blank look on Shen's face, and wished for the millionth time that he would take off his mask so she could read the rest of his face.

"Thank you for the offer Fist of Shadows. But the fact that we learned today is that somehow Zed can see us even when we think we are safe. He is also trying to discredit me in front of the Ionian Council, so even though I am not romanticly involved with you, I cannot be seen by anyone in such a position again."

Shen couldn't tell what Akali was thinking, but she just nodded to him, and then fell into her bed and went to sleep. He looked back at the shadows again and began to think. Now why was it that Yi defended him about his relationships even though he new the meaning of balance better than most? This thought kept Shen up his entire watch.

Akali didn't panic easily, but for some reason she was. She couldn't move as the nightmare around her spun into oblivion. Try as she might she couldn't force the image of Zed Torturing her slowly out of her mind. She felt Zed's blades across her neck and she opened her mouth to scream...

"AKALI! AKALI! WAKE UP!"

She sat bolt upright to find Shen shaking her shoulders, Standing over her bed. She grabbed Shen into a tight hug before he could do anything else, and she started sobbing. To both her and Shen's surprise, Shen wrapped his arms around her anb held her for a few minutes.

"I'm sorry Shen, I don't know what happened to me."

"It seams like the work of the chapion nocturne. I will discuss this with the summoners tomorrow. In the mean time you should try to go back to sleep."

He started to put her back on her bed when she suddenly tightened her grip.

"Please Shen, stay here,"Akali's voice sounded almost timid to Shen. "I just feel safer when you're next to me, so please...stay."

Shen Shen thought back to the events that happened that day, but his emotions won out in the end, and he lay down in the bed, holding Akali close to him.

"I don't mind if you accidentally spoon me again Shen, just don't make a habit of it."

Shen's face turned red with embarrassment and the last thing Akali saw was the edges of his ears go red before she fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Shen hadn't sleep well. In fact he barely slept at all. How was he supposed to defend his friends from something that had powers he couldn't understand? It wasn't like Nocturne to act out on his own against one specific individual. Their had been several times when the summoners had to lock him down into a even worse prison than the one he was already in, because he was spreading mass nightmares throughout the entire institute, No, someone else had to be behind this, and even though Shen had his suspicions, he would not voice them until he had evidence to back them up.

He was still holding onto Akali, her face resting on his chest with the worst happened. A flash from a camera filled his vision for a second he couldn't see.

"You see, this is why I prefer the darkness, It never surprises you like the light does, and it definitely doesn't hurt your eyes like that either."

Shen couldn't believe what he was hearing. Somehow Zed had set this all up and now Shen would be faced with expulsion from the Ionian council because he had not kept his vows as the Eye of Twilight. Zed was definitely smarter than most people give him credit for. This situation was only going from bad to worse when Zed took one of Shen's swords and stabbed it through Akali's leg. She woke up screaming.

"Their Shen, now you will be blamed for treason the same way I was. For hurting the people you were close to."

This was getting worse and worse and there was nothing Shen could do. The screams from Akali were getting louder and louder in his ears and Zed stepped closer, his blade held to Shen's neck...

Shen woke up with a start, almost throwing Akali out of the bed. He was covered in sweat and breathing heavily. He looked around to see that everything was fine, and decided that his dream must have been the work of Nocturne. Still trying to calm himself he got out of bed and got ready for the day. He had a certain summoner to talk to.

It was after sunrise, and the first of many champions were on their way down to breakfast, so Shen decided that most of the summoners would be up as well. And if they weren't, well then they would have to get up.

The summoner's quarters were not an area that many of the champions visited. Only the most trusted, (and sometimes the most slutty), of champions were allowed into their quarters. Shen had never been there, but had heard were the summoner he was looking for was sleeping, all thanks to a younger summoner that hadn't gained enough respect in the community yet. Shen knocked on the door of the room labeled S2 35. Shen stood there waiting for a few minutes before he knocked again.

"Alright, alright, I'm getting the door."

The door opened to revel a bleary eyed summoner who had just woken up.

"Shen I like you and all, but did you really have to wake me up this early? I'm on the night shift of summoners, so I've only been asleep for a few hours."

"My apologies summoner, but I have a matter of great importance to talk to you about."

"Alright Shen, come on in."

Shen walked into an room much like his own, with a living space, a bathroom, and another room with a bed in it. Shen noted that everything was put in a certain spot as to maintain some sort of order, but it was obvious very little care was put into where things went. What really caught Shen's attention was a desk pushed up against the far wall. The desk had everything that the summoner owned on it. Well almost everything. It was covered in everything from maps of the land and the rift matches, to books that ranged from tactics, to fantasy. Odd little trinkets also littered the desk, from small gyms to a foot long dagger.

"I thought that summoners relied on their magic to fight."

The summoner grinned at Shen and picked up the dagger.

"Most mages have a saying that goes, 'mind over matter,' meaning wisdom before strength. I say, why not a little bit of both? Now Shen, what have you come here to tell me about, and please, as I've said before call me Spike."

Shen nodded and sat down in the chair that Spike gestured to.

"I'll get straight to the point. Last night Akali and I were plagued with nightmares. We believe this to be the workings of the champion Nocturne, and I think that he might be influenced by Zed in this matter. I was wondering if you could do anything about the restraints on his power."

Spike leaned forwards in his chair and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, frowning.

"I'm afraid I can't help you there Shen, I have no control over the champion Nocturne. But before you ask, I do have some friends that could probably help me out with this."

"Thank you summoner."

The man sighed as he stood up to lead Shen out.

"You're never going to quit being formal are you?"

…

Shen went straight to the mess hall after his meeting with the summoner, and found Akali and Kennen there as well. They were eating quietly, not wanting to discuss the events of last night in front of so many people, when a messenger came over to their table. It wasn't a messenger from the League either. His travail worn cloths had a distinct patter from only one place on the land.

"What news from Ionia sir?"

the man said nothing, just held out a sealed envelope and walked away towards the serving area. Shen looked at the crest and recognized it as the crest of the Ionian Elders. Shen new that whatever was in this envelope was not good news. He opened it before anyone could ask him about it, although Akali knew better than to ask, but Kennen had a tendency to jump the gun even if he knew better. After a few seconds Shen held the paper over a candle and burned it. He had already memorized the short message on it, and he knew what was coming next.

"So Shen, are you gunna tell us what it said?'

It was Kennen that asked the question, it always was. Shen did not reply at first, as he waited for the letter to finish burning.

"Akali and I have been summoned back to Ionia to meet with the Elders to discuss personal matters, and our next assignment. They have requested that you stay here Kennen, so the Kinkou have a prescience in the League. They also mention that you should try to keep an eye out on Zed."

Kennen nodded, but with noticeably less enthusiasm than normal. Keeping an eye on Zed would mean putting himself in mortal danger everywhere he went. But hey that's what ninjas do. Akali on the other hand was noticeably less excited by the news than Kennen.

"Why on earth would the Elders request our presence? If they want to talk to the council they should talk to Irellia."

Shen could tell that Akali was worried about something else though. It was probably her standing with the Elders, sense she hadn't been able to fulfill her duties as the Fist of Shadow during her recovery. It took Shen a while, but he managed to track down an Ionian summoner, (which was weird because Ionia had the most champions in the league), who agreed to transport them back to Ionia. They hurried back to Akali's room to gather their belongings and headed out to the open fields outside the institute. The summoner was waiting for them and quickly began to mutter the spell he would need. Shen always hated this part. Who was there to make sure the summoner actually transported them and didn't just burn them to ash?

As usual Shen found himself starting at the doors to the temple a few seconds after the Summoner had started his chant. He pushed open the door silently and entered into the temple, heading straight to where he new the Elders would be.

The room that the council of Elders met in was shaped so that when someone was invited in to listen, they had to sit in the middle of a circular room, with the Elders sitting high above them, looking for all intents and porpoises, like giants. One of the great things about Shen's training was that situations like this did not intimidate him, but rather gave hims a exercise for his self control. It was a wide know fact that the Elders would punish people simply because they talked back to them, or didn't show their respect, but Shen wasn't worried. Nothing he had done could be considered grounds for treason so he was relaxed and impassive as he usually was.

"Eye of Twilight, we have called you and the Fist of Shadows here to address a rising concern within our ranks. We have noticed that your former colleague Zed has joined the institute, and have summoned you here for two reasons. The first being that even though you are the Eye of Twilight, we have our concerns about you acting out emotional against Zed sense the anniversary of his takeover and murder of your father is close at hand.

Shen remained impassive even though the Elders had just taken a swing at his loyalty.

"We also have a mission to send you on,"the Elder continued, "To fill you in on what has been happening while you were away, the Ionian traitor Yasuo has been on the loose for some time now. We have received official reports that he has been spotted near the southern border, apparently trying to find a ship that will transport him off this island. We cannot let him escape, and are ordering the two of you to track him down and bring him before us."

Shen looked over at Akali for a second before he spoke to the Elder.

"Sir I will accept this task from you, but I am not sure if my associate is ready for a task of this magnitude. Surely you must of heard of how she was seriously injured and is still on the end part of her recovery process."

"Is that your judgment Shen. Or are your emotions getting the better of you? I thought the Eye of Twilight was supposed to not let emotions cloud their judgment?"

Shen turned to face the Elder that had spoken up. He had sounded younger than the others, and Shen was confident he wasn't there the last time he had been assigned a task like this.

"Forgive me for not knowing who you are as I can see that you are new here. But as the Eye of Twilight I am tasked with making judgments that most people could not. Including this council of Elders," Shen knew he was pushing his luck but he kept on going, "My associate here is the Fist of Shadows, and is tasked with keeping balance to a world where most men wont get their hands dirty, not unlike yourself. That is the reason you have individuals like myself and Akali here. As someone who is supposed to make judgments about the current situation, I would judge that Akali is not ready for an assignment like this, for fear of hurting herself beyond repair."

The council looked stunned at the way Shen had addressed them so bluntly. Throwing them under the buss by essentially calling them cowards because they used the services of others to do their work. The young Elder on the other hand just smiled down at Shen before continuing.

"Now that Shen has stated his position on the current matter, I would like to point out a thing or two. The first is that I think Shen is being to heavily influenced by his emotions to properly make a judgment. I also have reason to back this up, as one of my agents has told me about something rather interesting happening at the institute with our Eye of Twilight."

The other Elders were looking at the younger one with interest now. How had he learned something that they hadn't? Akali on the other hand was showing signs of panic. It wasn't much but the whitening of her knuckles on her Kamas was enough to tip Shen off.

"Yes my fellow elders, it seams as if your Eye of Twilight isn't as pure as you thought, for it has been brought to my attention that Akali has been sharing her bed with Shen, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was in more ways than one."

Akali's face burned red with anger and embarrassment at what the Elder was implying. She wasn't going to lie, she had liked it when Shen had been next to her in her bed, but her thoughts never strayed farther that just cuddling with him. She looked over at Shen to see him looking as impassive as ever, and for once she was glad he didn't show any emotion. The Elders had been talking among themselves for some time before Shen spoke up again.

"Esteemed council of Elders, I would advise you to arrest this man now."

"Why Shen? One little secret get out about you and all the sudden you can't handle the pressure?" The elder who spoke was an older woman that obviously had strong morals against people sleeping together outside of a marriage bond.

"No madam, it is because he is working with Zed."

This piece of news came with mixed reactions from the Elders. Many where in shock, and others shouted accusations at either Shen, or the Elder who Shen had reviled.

"On what grounds do you make this accusation Shen?" the voice of the lead Elder rang out, silencing all the others.

"What he said about me was true, I have shared a bed with Akali for the past few nights," Akali couldn't believe Shen was admitting this and almost fainted out of embarrassment, "But there was only one other person in the institute that knew about that and that was Zed, who I am convinced watches us each night to find something to rune our reputation with."

Shen paused for a moment to see if anyone could make the connection about what he was saying. He saw the realization dawn on some of the Elder's faces, but too many were still lost.

"In case you haven't realized what I'm saying is that the only way he could have a source that knows this information, is if he is somehow in contact with Zed."

That got the attention of the remaining Elders. They quickly did what they did best and started arguing about whether or not it was true what Shen had said. The young Elder on the other hand looked completely calm, as if he wasn't about to be put on trial.

"Unfortunately Shen you cannot prove this in any way, but I would advise you to not go against the Elders in any way from now on."

The Elders words stung and Shen felt his anger building up inside of him, but he had to remain neutral. If he lashed out it would only prove the Elders point that he was not able to fulfill the role as the Eye of Twilight.

"Be that as it may, I would implore the other Elders to investigate. As for your second matter you wished to discuss, I will accept this assignment, but I will not speak for the Fist of Shadows. I do not think she should come with me, but if she wants to I will not stop her."

Silence filled the room as the Elders looked at Akali, waiting for her answer. She stepped forward but wouldn't meet Shen's eyes when she spoke.

"I will also accept this mission, even if it is against the advice of our Eye of Twilight."

"Good with that matter settled you two are dismissed. You must leave within the next twelve hours so that you can catch this traitor."

….

It was some time later before Akali talked to Shen about what had happened during the meeting.

"Shen why do you not want me to participate on this mission? Surely you don't think that I am weak, do you?"

She couldn't read Shen's face due to his mask, but didn't show any emotions anyway. It really pissed her off sometimes.

"No Akali, I know that you are very strong. It's just that your last injuries were my fault because of my orders, and I would rather not hurt you again."

Akali was stunned. She n was actually showing emotion in front of her, albeit, not a lot, but just enough for her to recognize it. She started walking again when she noticed that Shen had kept going without her. Typical, she muttered to herself. One moment you think hes going to be all caring and the next its back to business. But she had grown used to it, and she put it on her mental list of things that Shen didn't that didn't piss her off as much as they should. So far the list had quite a few additions to it in the past few days.

"So Akali sense you seam to like sleeping next to me shall we spark the Elders curiosity and only take one tent on this mission?"

Akali looked down and felt the heat rising to her cheeks. Of course Shen would turn something like their relationship, if she could call it that, into a joke.

"Alright Shen lets do that. But if I catch you spooning me again I'm going to rip that mask off your face and show everyone at the institute what you really look like."

It was satisfying to see Shen's face flush with embarrassment, and Akali took pride in knowing that she was probably the only person that could do it. She smiled to herself behind her mask. This was going to be a fun assignment.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Akali had forgot the seasons in Ionia, and was not ready for the cold when she stepped outside of the temple. Maybe they had spent to much time at the institute. Shen on the other hand was ready for anything, as his warm travailing cloak proved, along with the gloves that had grips on the palms so that his hands would not only stay warm, but they would also let him grip his swords better.

"Akali your attire does not suit the conditions we will be travailing in, I suggest in the next ten minutes you find the proper equipment."

Akali nodded and ran off, knowing that Shen expected her to be back in three minutes at the latest. Shen on the other hand just stood there waiting. He was lost in thought about what had happened at the temple. The Elders usually trusted his judgment about pretty much anything, but today they had seamed reluctant to agree with him. He tried to shake off the feeling that there was more going on behind the scenes than he was aware of. It wasn't working. No matter how hard he tried, the suspicion that the young Elder was in contact with Zed still sat at the back of his mind. He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of approaching feet, but they were much to heavy for it to be Akali.

"So Shen, our mighty Eye of Twilight, how do you feel after that meeting with the Elders?"

Shen did not turn to look at who was talking to him, but rather kept his gaze straight ahead. He knew who he was taking to, but Shen didn't consider most people his equal, so he did not turn to face the man, even though he was an Elder.

"I feel confused if you must know. My main confusion is around the subject of how you managed to make it onto the council of Elders even though you have connections with a traitor that tried to murder a whole faction of people."

Shen could almost feel the smile that was playing across the Elder's face when he spoke.

"Maybe its because I am the most reliable source of information inside the council of Elders, so they believe me when I say anything. And before you ask yes I only tell them the truth. Just like the fact that you and Akali are sleeping together, and you wanna know something? It really pisses off Zed that you're the one Akali decided to sleep with."

"So you have been in contact with him, and it shouldn't matter to you or Zed who I sleep with, unless you think I do more than sleeping, which Akali can confirm that I only sleep, and possibly snore judging by the way she looks like she gets less sleep than me."

The Elder was just staring at Shen with a look on his face that suggested that he was trying not to laugh.

"Oh, \ here she is now why don't we ask her?"Shen turned around, "Akali this Elder here was wondering what I do when we're in the same bed," Akali's face started turning pink as she tried to hide her embarrassment, "now tell me, do I snore when I sleep?"

The question caught Akali completely off guard. Out of all the things he could have said he asked if he snored? Akali felt relief flood through her, but disappointment as well. Once again Shen was treating their, whatever you call it, like it was a joke.

"Yes Shen you do snore, and often right into my ear. I honestly wonder how you don't get caught on missions when you have to sleep so close to your target. I think the snoring should have killed you by now."

The Elder behind Shen was looking for some sort of reaction, but as he could only view his back, he could not see the slight shift of Shen's mask that Akali saw.. Akali couldn't believe she saw it, but she knew that Shen was smiling at her.

"Alright Elder, you've found whatever answer you were searching for, and we need to head out immediately. Now please excuse us."

Shen bowed to the man, and Akali followed suit. The set off at a quick pace, even though they were leaving a good seven hours before the Elders expected them to. But considering they just ran into one outside of the gates, Shen suspected that the entire council would know about their departure by now. They mostly traveled in silence, which was not uncommon for them, but the silence between them felt strained. As if one wanted to talk, but dared not disturb the other. Eventually Shen was the one that broke the silence..

"Fist of Shadows, I know I told you to get better equipment, but what exactly do you have?"

Akali looked down at what she had. Nothing really different than her normal equipment, but she realized what Shen was asking about.

"Oh, this new suit I have was a new design that is being tested, so they gave it to me for a field test. It's designed to help keep my body temperature warm, and blend into the shadows more. They called it the silverfang."

Shen nodded at her explanation and examined the suit more carefully. Akali felt slightly embarrassed When she saw Shen examining her body. Shen seamed to realize this and looked away as if nothing had happened.

"Well if that's all in order and you're confident in your gear, then let us continue so we can reach the halfway point by tonight."

Akali nodded and they took off again, this time much faster than before. They did manage to reach the halfway point before nightfall, but it left them both tired. Shen went to scout their surroundings while Akali set up camp. Their wasn't really much to do sense they were travailing light, and the would mostly live off the land. Hopefully Shen would bring something back. When Shen did return he had two rabbits slung over his shoulder, more than enough for both of them, but the way Akali was feeling she wondered if two rabbits were going to be enough for her alone. Shen prepared the meat without a fire and they ate in silence. It was only when they were going to sleep that Shen spoke up.

"Akali I know I joked about bringing one tent, but did you really have to bring the smallest tent we had?"

Akali looked at the little shelter and realized she had brought her tent instead of Shen's. Shen's was noticeably larger than Akali's to start with, and it probably had something in it that Shen would now have to do without.

"Don't worry Shen we'll fit in the tent, you'll just have to be as close to me as you can get."

"Akali I have been embarrassed whenever I wake up next to you because of what you say. What is supposed to happen when I wake up almost on top of you?"

"Well I guess you'll just have to have a heart attack if someone manages to find us like that out here."

Shen did not feel convinced about this, but nodded his head and followed Akali in the tent. Akali had to admit that Shen had been right. The tent was almost to small for them, and it required her to press her body as close as she could to Shen's. Not that she minded in the slightest. She felt Shen tense up a little when she pressed onto him, but after realizing what she was doing, Shen relaxed and allowed himself to fall asleep. Although fall asleep is a strange way to put it. It was more of a meditation state that he stayed in, able to sense and feel his surroundings, but still let his body regenerate the energy it needed. It was a little harder to concentrate on his surroundings this time due to the fact that he could feel Akali breathing underneath him. As it turned out the soft rhythmic breaths coming from Akali helped ease his mind about the situations he kept putting himself in, and Shen was able to rest.

…

Why couldn't they have waited until they had finished their assignment before a squad from the order of the shadows attacked them? Akali always hated being woken up to a fight, especially if it was cold outside. It was a good thing they wouldn't be fighting though, as Shen quickly grabbed Akali and teleported away. . They ended up deep in the woods miles away from their original location next to a small Yordel that looked like he was going to crap himself at the sudden appearance of the two ninjas.

"Thank you for your quick thinking Shen, but you do realize that we left all of our gear back at camp don't you?"

Shen said nothing, he just reached behind his back and pulled out a sack that contained their weapons and an extra tent in it.

"I managed to grab these before we were ambushed. The extra tent is actually my tent, so this time it will be big enough to fit both of us."

Akali nodded at what Shen had said, and admired the foresight that he had, something she hadn't given the time to think about. After mentally chastising herself for being so stupid she went and picked up her kamas and set off in the direction they needed to go. It helped that they where a couple miles closer to their destination, but after a few hundred feet Akali noticed that Shen wasn't following her. She turned around and dashed back to the clearing to find Shen still sitting on the ground not moving at all.

"Shen whats wrong?" Akali tried, but couldn't keep a slight note of panic from creeping into her voice. Shen said nothing for a few seconds, and just kept staring past her breathing deeply.

"It is nothing serious Akali, it is just that my teleportation trick was a much lager distance than I am used to doing, so it has drained most of my energy from me. I need a few minutes to rest, and sense it's not even sunrise yet, you should probably try to sleep as well."

Akali nodded, but told herself that they would not be ambushed like that again. She was about to take up a lookout post when she noticed Shen setting up his tent, or rather trying to would better describe it. He hadn't let on to her just how exhausted he was, but the fact that he could barely move himself from one spot to the next gave Akali a good idea of just how much he needed to rest. Shen felt a hand on his shoulder and immediately tensed up, suspecting an attack.

"Shen you've done enough for now, let me help you."

Shen relaxed a little as he realized it was Akali who was behind him, but reluctantly allowed her to help him. He wasn't usually the one who needed help on this sort of thing, and he had known how to set up a tent since he was three. Still Akali insisted on helping him and in seconds his tent was up. He crawled his way inside and felt his arms give out. He hit the ground, hard. Hard enough to crack his nose and start a nice stream of blood to stain his mask. How embarrassing. He heard Akali sigh and walk over to help him up. She gently removed his mask and inspected the damage done to his face.

"Well I can't tell if you look any uglier due to the fact that I barely remember what your face looks like in the first place since you never take this off, and your per-existing scars don't help my judgment either." She felt Shen shake with silent laughter against her, "But I guess that means I don't have to be too careful cause you don't care what your face looks like so here's the easy fix."

She reached down and gave his nose a sharp tug to the right, setting it back in place. As his nose moved a sharp crack sounded inside the tent, and Shen felt pain shoot though his head. To his credit he didn't even flinch at the pain. He just sat their even when Akali held a piece of cloth to his face, rather roughly in his opinion. It took a few minutes but the blood stopped flowing and Akali gently laid him down on his back.

"Now that's about all I can do for now, I'm going to take watch duty while you rest so we don't get ambushed again." She was leaving the tent when she heard Shen speak.

"Akali...," She turned around to face him and for some reason he couldn't quite meet her eyes, "...thank you for your help."

Akali just looked at him for a few seconds without any expression crossing her face before she made her way back over to him.

"You know their was something I forgot to do to help you. You see when I was little and got hurt my mother always told me to act tough in-front of everyone, but behind closed doors she would always hug me and comfort me." She then hugged Shen, and kissed him on his nose. "You'll be alright Shen."

Shen was too shocked to say anything, and to weak to retaliate. He just lay there staring at her as she got out of the tent and vanished into the night. What had caused her to act like that? He thought the question would prevent him from getting any sleep, but in the end his body won the competition and he slept soundly.

Akali wasn't to sure what had gotten into her either. She had to spend a good ten minutes to get her thoughts back on track so she could stay attentive for the next few hours. She watch the shadows closely, and focused on her invisible movement so she could change lookout positions without giving herself away. In after a few hours she decided that she needed sleep as well. She crawled into Shen's tent and, (even though their was more room in his tent), moved up next to him. She was surprised when after a few seconds she felt Shen's arm wrap around her and pull her closer. She smiled to herself, she could definitely get used to this.

…

When they woke up this time they weren't being ambushed, so they could relax a little more. Shen still had his arm wrapped around Akali when she woke up so she turned around to face him. Shen was also awake, but not moving, as if he was afraid he would upset her.

"So Shen, how do you feel right now?"

"I feel well enough for us to keep moving today, although it will be a little slower than yesterdays progress. We are still ahead of schedule though, so I believe we can afford to move a little slower."

Akali nodded, the started to move out of the tent. When she stood up on the outside she shivered in the cold morning air. She had forgotten it was winter, and her silverfang suit didn't seam to be working exactly the way it was supposed to. It almost made her turn back around and snuggle up to Shen again, but in the end she didn't have to as she felt a jacket being put around her shoulders. She looked behind her to see Shen standing there, even though he looked like he would fall over at any second.

"Don't worry about the way I look Akali, it is just to trick anyone that thinks they can get the upper hand on us, I am much more sturdy on my feet than I appear."

As if to prove his point he quickly folded the tent up and gathered his equipment on his back. He then set off at a brisk walk, although is was quite a bit slower than the run they had been doing yesterday. They still managed to cover a good chunk of distance before they had to stop for lunch. Shen sat down trying not to let the discomfort he felt show in his body language, and he almost succeeded. If it wasn't for Akali's training she might have never noticed the slight twitch that he made when he sat down.

"Shen are you sure you're alright? You seam to be in a lot more pain than you've let on."

Shen sighed at her and took a few seconds to respond, much to the annoyance of Akali.

"Don't worry Fist of Shadows, I am much more durable that I seam. Perhaps you have forgotten just how much punishment I can take before I actually fall."

Akali knew that Shen was referring to some of his more recent matched, when he had to fight against Nasus, and outlast his massive ax swings that could kill some champions in a single blow. She just nodded and ate her meal in silence. They quickly set off again, determined to reach a small town that could provide them transportation to the harbor before sundown. As it turned out they actually reached the town several hours after nightfall, with a fresh layer of snow covering the ground. This time Akali's suit was actually working, so she had given Shen his jacket back, to which he was extremely grateful. Shen had been travailing without his mask since he had broken his nose, and handled the dealings with the innkeeper. Akali was pretty sure that her prescience would unsettle anyone around, so she took up a watch on top of the inn for the time being. She was beginning to hope that Shen would find them a place to rest soon when her eyes widened in sock and she quickly made her way back down to the entrance.

"...please sir, I just need a room for one night and then I'll be gone forever."

Shen knew that it was going to be almost imposable to get a room out of the innkeeper for a fair price. The fat man didn't like the weapons on Shen's back, and he could tell that if something happened, that the man in-front of him would almost certainly cause someone serious injury. The man had to jump back a little as a woman clad in black appeared seemingly out of nowhere next to the man.

"I just saw who we were looking for a few inns over, do you want to go now,or wait till morning?"

Shen saw the look on the innkeepers face and knew that it was pointless to press his case any further. After Akali's sudden appearance their would be no way he would let them have a room.

"We go now and get this done with as soon as we can."

They left without a second thought, and ignoring the strange looks that were following them. It was a quick trip over to the inn that Akali had seen, and they made their way to the bar to get their information. Shen knew how these kind of people worked and proceeded his question by flipping a gold coin over the counter.

"Sir perhaps you could tell me where an old friend of mine is. He has long black hair and carries a sword around with him. Perhaps you know who I'm talking about?"

The old man behind the bar was still inspecting the gold coin, (probably trying to decide if it was real or not), when he answered Shen's question.

"Yeah I saw him come in a little earlier. He rooming on the second floor, but don't break anything or I'll lose more than my job for telling you."

Shen bowed to the man and tossed another gold coin over the counter before leaving. It took them a few tries, (and a couple more gold coins), to pinpoint exactly where their target was located. They sat outside the door, holding their weapons at the ready. Shen looked Akali in the eyes and nodded. Akali went to kick open the door, but before she could the door flew open and she was pulled inside by her outstretched leg. To Shen it looked as if Akali had simply vanished into the door, granted aided by the hand that held her leg. He sighed to himself, why couldn't these things ever go as planed? It only took him a fraction of a second to follow up on the attacker and shoulder his way through the door.

The scene that met his eyes was something that could have been straight out of a nightmare. The remnants of a smoke bomb were scattered across the floor, and there was blood on the ground. Akali was holding her side trying to stop the flow of blood from a sword wound. This man was faster than Shen had thought if he could land a blow like that on Akali with her shroud up. The man in question was standing a few feet away from Akali with his sword posed in a position that he would have no trouble delivering the killing blow from. When he heard the door slam open he turned his head a fraction of an inch to see Shen with his swords raised. Akali tied her luck and let another smoke bomb drop onto the ground.

"I thought you would've learned that that doesn't work!"

The mans voice was deep and threatening. To Shen's surprise the man dashed into the middle of the smoke screen, and to Shen's horror he heard Akali cry out in pain. Shen knew better after seeing the display of skill that to blindly follow the man into the smoke so he stayed where he was hoping that he could still save Akali. When the smoke cleared he saw the man holding his sword to Akali's throat. The only reason he hadn't cut it open was a single kama that Akali had managed to get up in time to block the killing strike. Shen noticed that blood was flowing from another gash across her abdomen. This wasn't going anywhere good fast.

"I thought you ninjas where trained better than this, its almost disappointing to kill such unworthy opponents."

"Oh it's not there fault that they are weak. They chose the path of balance instead of the path of power."

Shen felt a sting of fear run though him as he heard the voice. The look in Akali's eyes only confirmed his fears about what was going on. Slowly he turned around to face the newcomer.

"Zed, I thought that the institute would be keeping you busy with all the matches that you needed to participate in."

Zed let out a laugh that sent chills down everyone's spines in the room.

"You honestly think those weaklings can contain me for longer than a few days at a time. The minute I heard you where back in Ionia I had to come and see for myself, and it appears that I wasn't the only one trying to sneak out of the institute either." Zed reached behind him and pulled out a small burlap bad that was shifting from side to side.

"Before you ask it was less than a challenge to catch Kennen, he thought he would try to spy on me, but in the end I got the upper hand. To bad you three stick to much to the old ways, or else I would let you join my order and all would be forgiven, except for you Shen, you would still have to die." Zed held his arm blade up to the sack and looked Shen in the eyes. "Now you choose Shen, you cannot save both of your friends here, so tell me, who means more to you, and who are you willing to sacrifice? Answer me quickly before I kill Kennen just for the heck of it!"

Shen noticed that the bag stopped moving after Zed had spoken. On the other hand Shen felt as if someone had just dropped an elephant on his back. How could he choose between the only friends he had in the world? They trusted him with everything, but at the most critical time he couldn't save them. They all knew that if they died that they wouldn't be revived like when they were on the rift. He looked over to where Akali was being held but couldn't meet her eyes. Akali saw that Shen couldn't look at her and realized what was happening, although she almost refused to believe it. Shen would never do such a thing to get himself labeled as a traitor. Shen turned back to Zed and held his swords up inviting the attack that he knew would be coming. Zed on the other hand laughed again.

"So you've decided to save your furry little friend instead of the woman that loves you. You're harsh Shen. You do know that there are better ways to tell her you're not interested."

"I'm only saving the one that needs to be saved Zed."

Zed looked confused for a second, but quickly reacted to Shen's attack, dropping the bag with a loud thumping noise.

"Don't you remember the last time you tried to fight me Shen? I beat you without a problem."

Shen didn't say anything, just slashed at Zed, leaving two deep gashes in his chest plate. Zed stepped back to defend himself, but Shen pushed his attack harder, leaving deep cuts in anything that Zed tried to defend himself with.

"You're much stronger than the last time we fought Shen, but can you handle more than one of me?"

Shen saw Zed vanish and felt a shuriken slice through his shoulder guard. He whipped around to see nothing but shadows. He suddenly felt very cramped in the room as shadowy images of Zed started walking towards him, all with blades drawn.

"You see," all of them spoke at once, "your strength means nothing against power like mine."

Shen couldn't stop all the blades from hitting him, but he stopped the deadliest ones. He ended up with a nice collection of deep gashed across his arms and legs, and a nasty looking cut across his chest. Zed appeared again, standing over Akali, (whom had been dropped by their target).

"Now Shen, I remember giving you a choice about who got to live, and since you choose Kennen, Akali just has to die now."

Akali eyes widened in horror as she saw Zeds blade extend towards her neck. All the sudden she felt a strong prescience around her, and her vision went purple.

"NO!"

Akali yell was useless as Shen suddenly appeared in front of her, Zeds blade going straight through his chest. She felt warm blood splatter across her face and saw that the only reason Shen was still standing was because Zed was holding him up with his blade. Zed could only be described as completely confused.

"Why did you do this Shen? I know you have a strong sense of loyalty, but I did not think you would throw your life away so uselessly."

Shen coughed up blood onto Zed's face mask, his last act of hate towards the fallen ninja.

"I think I did it Zed, because I love her."

Zed laughed once more at that. He pulled his blade out of Shen chest and let him fall to the floor without even so much as looking at him.

"At the rate she's bleeding Shen, you wont have to wait to long for her in the after life, she wasn't going to live anyway so you wasted your life for nothing."

Shen said nothing, he couldn't. He just watched as his world went black, consumed by the shadows.

LOL GOT YOU! I'm not leaving it as a cliff hanger like that.

Akali couldn't believe what had happened. Her mind was still trying to wrap around the fact that the man who they had tried to kill her, had carried Shen, and helped her, to the hospital to find some healers. Kennen had turned out to be a little ruffled but in a more or less good condition. He had set out around the same time Shen had gone into the surgery room surrounded by doctors and healers. Kennen was to report to the Elders what had happened, and tell the high summoners that none of them would be available for matches for some time. Everything had turned out to be much better than expected, but Akali was still on edge. Shen still hadn't come out of surgery, and Akali couldn't move to see what was happening. She just had to sit there and panic, all whilst trying to keep her heart rate down so the doctors didn't think she was having a heart attack on top of everything that had happened.

Akali tried her hardest to sleep, or at the very least meditate, but to no avail. What Shen had said was still weighing on her mind. She was thankful for the distraction that came in the form of a man wearing a surgeon's outfit, his hands covered in blood.

"I have some good news and some bad news for you Miss Akali. The good news is that we have managed to stabilized Shen's vitals and can say with confidence that he will live. The bad news is that we don't know if he will wake up anytime soon, and if he does, we don't know what kind of damage occurred to his brain, as it seams that it was attacked by shadows to try and drive him insane before he died."

Relief flooded though Akali, followed by dread.

"Thank you sir, its good to know the Eye of Twilight will survive."

Then man bowed to her and left her alone. It was some time later when they wheeled Shen into the room and placed his bed right next to hers. She looked over at him to see his eyes shut, as if nothing ever happened and he was just asleep. Emotions swirled inside of her ranging from admiration for his sacrifice to hatred that he would do something so ridiculous to save her. In the end the medicine she was on and her exhaustion caught up to her and she fell asleep.

…

Akali woke up to the sound of someone straining to move. She quickly looked over and saw Shen trying to remove the restraining bands that held his body in an upright position. She quickly sat up in excitement, only to have immense pain shoot through both sides of her abdomen. She let out a soft cry of pain and fell back onto her bed.

"Akali? Is that you?"

Once the pain subsided Akali rolled over to the side of the bed and stood up slowly, wincing at the pain that kept shooting though her. She carefully made her way over to Shen's bed and looked at him through teary eyes.

"Akali why are you crying? I am alive so you should be happy."

"YOU JERK! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH PAIN YOU PUT ME THOUGH?!"

Shen winced at the sudden loudness of her voice. His head still hurt from hitting it on the ground a few times in only twenty four hours.

"Akali I..."

"Just shut up,"

Akali cut Shen off, but Shen would not stop until he could apologies to her.

"No Akali listen, I..."

He was interrupted by her again, but not in the way he expected. Akali had leaned down and had kissed Shen, and to Shen's surprise, he found himself kissing her back. After a few seconds she broke contact with him. She wasn't making any noise, but tears were still running down her cheeks. Shen just stroked the side of her face and brushed away some of her tears with his thumb.

"Akali," he began softly, "I'm so sorry for whatever happened, I just couldn't let anything happen to you, my emotions over road my judgment, and I just had to help you."

It was a lame excuse, and Shen knew it, but it was a start.

"And why did you make your decision like that again?"

Shen broke eye contact with her and looked up at the ceiling. He hadn't expected to live when he had said his last words about her, so he felt more than uncomfortable saying them again.

"I made my decision because I...I...I..."

Akali leaned forward looking at Shen's face, as if willing him to look at her. It must have worked because Shen turned back around and looked her in the eyes.

"I did it because I love you Akali..."

Akali's face broke out into a smile and fresh tears started flowing down her cheeks.

"Than that's a good enough reason for me."

She leaned down again and kissed him once more. Shen met her warmly placing his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her closer. They were interrupted by a slight coughing from the door.

"I hate to break up your moment here guys, but there's someone here to see you."

Shen looked at Kennen standing in the doorway, and noticed the three highest ranking Elders standing behind him. They made their way over to Shen with a look of displeasure on their faces.

"Eye of Twilight, you and the Fist of Shadows have failed you mission, and you especially seamed to have accomplished this by letting your emotions cloud your judgment. We have decided to put you on trial and hold you accountable for any actions that happened here, including the injuries to your..._friend." _

Shen couldn't help the anger that started to boil up inside of him, but he did not let it show or influence his thinking.

"If I were you, of great and wise Elders, I would be more worried with the fact that not only was the traitor we were looking for in the harbor, but a traitor was there that should never have even been on Ionian soil in the first place. Zed was responsible for the injuries that we sustained, and the only way I think he could have known about our whereabouts, is if he had some help from the inside. So I suggest that you focus your efforts on finding the mole in your council, although I think you have a pretty good idea on where to start."

The Elders were taken aback by the hash tone Shen had used. It wasn't usually like him to be so accusing of people, and to show his disregard for the opinions of others.

"While we're on the topic of me, I think that my personal affairs should be something that only I should worry about. That's why they're called personal. And before you object I know that my father was married at one point in time, otherwise I wouldn't be here, so you cannot tell me that the Eye of Twilight is not allowed to have love in their life. Now since you have heard my view on the events of the past few days, I would invite you to leave so that you can start the proper investigation that you need to."

The Elders turned around with a huff, and threw their cloaks over their shoulders.

"A bunch of papered brats if you ask me." Kennen was standing on the opposite side of Shen's bed, saying whatever came to his mind. "If you ask me they're just a bunch of little jerks that try to control a world that they have no experience in." He looked over at them, and noticed that they were still holding onto each other.

"Oh, and if you two can't keep this under control then I will quit the Kinkou order in favor of working at Bilgwater."

Shen just laughed a little at the yordel. He looked back at Akali again and kissed her gently.

"Once I feel better we're going to take a vacation from all of this. You, me, and Kennen. But he'll have to stay in the other room."

Akali laughed and curled up next to Shen. She said nothing but just sat there running her hand across Shen's chest. The last thing she remembered before she fell asleep was tracing the new scar on Shen's chest, and wondering what would happen in the future.

IMPORTANT! THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE STORY. THEIR WILL BE MORE CHAPTERS IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS SO DON'T DELET THIS OFF YOUR ALERT TAB. I KNOW IT SOUNDS LIKE THE END BUT IM NOT DONE QUITE YET.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

It had been some time before the doctors had even considered letting Shen out of the hospital. For starters he hadn't been able to move at all for the first couple of days, which caused some rather embarrassing situations for him, but he quickly forgot about those once he could move on his own again. The scar on his chest was also a problem. It had been such a sever wound that even though the healers had done all they could, Shen would still feel pain shoot through his chest every time he accidentally stretched it to far. Akali wasn't fairing much better than Shen was either. The wounds to either side of her abdomen were deep, and caused her pain whenever she moved. But Akali definitely saw the silver lining in this, as she was able to just stay curled up next to Shen for the majority of the time. They didn't really talk much about anything, but the fact that Shen was showing any emotion towards her at all was more than enough for her. It was on the day that they were going to leave that another visitor showed up.

"Shen, I'm so glade you're feeling better."

Shen looked up to see a familiar summoner standing at the doorway.

"Greetings summoner, what brings you here today?"

The man sighed at Shen and sat down in a chair opposite of Shen's bed.

"I don't know how many times I've told you to call me Spike, and I'm here to simply make sure you're ok and ask if you need me to help you with anything. I like to take care of my friends when I can."

Shen said nothing for a while, but eventually let a small smile cross his face.

"I can think of one thing you can help me with," he said extending his arm to the man. The summoner stood up and helped Shen to his feet, and started walking him out of the room. "You see summon...Spike, a new challenge arisen in my life, and I was wondering if you could give me some advice."

Spike raised his eyebrows at that. Shen almost never asked for help with anything.

"A new challenge? And what could be so difficult that the mighty Eye of Twilight seeks out the help of a low ranked summoner?"

Shen opened his mouth to talk, but stopped when a voice came from down the hall.

"Shen I packed our equipment and found a place to...oh greetings summoner." Akali bowed slightly, wincing as her wounds were stretched.

"Please call me Spike. And I hope I'm not interfering with any of your business."

"Don't worry Spike, you're not, and Akali, thank you for getting my things together, I'll be out shortly." Shen pulled her close with his free arm and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

Spike was still staring at Shen long after Akali had walked away. Eventually Shen looked at the summoner, only to find a grim slowly spreading across Spike's face.

"What?"

"Oh I can definitely see what your new challenge is Shen. I was wondering how long it would take you to realize you liked her. She definitely liked you long before you thought about it. But back to your original question, I'm not exactly the best person to ask. See, I haven't really had any serious relationships like you and Akali are experiencing right now. My advice? Don't do anything stupid that will make her hate you."

"I can tell you that it might already be to late for that. How do you think I ended up in the hospital?"

Spike laughed hard for a few seconds at that, before saying anything again.

"Well Shen, all I can do is wish you the best in your future endeavors. And feel free to ask for my help whenever you want to. That goes for you as well Akali, and tell Kennen that I'll help him out, if he's not doing anything illegal."

They had reached the entrance of the hospital, and Spike transferred Shen's arm from his shoulder to Akali's.

"Anyway I've got to get back to the institute, they're threatening to demote me if I don't get back to my duties soon."

"Thank you Spike, I'll make sure to take you up on your offer."

Spike started laughing again.

"Oh I know you will Akali, I just knew Shen would be a little less eager to ask for help."

He left the two standing there and waved at them over his shoulder. Shen started walking, or rather tired to, as Akali had to help him almost the whole time he moved.

"So Shen, where are we going to go?"

Shen was silent for a long time. He knew where they had to go, but he didn't know what to do after they got there.

"We'll need to head back to the temple of the Elders, they will want to see both of us, and probably try to put us on trial, but we shouldn't have any problems getting out of that. After that we're going someplace quite for some R and R."

"Well that last part sounds good to me, but I'm not so sure about the first part. Guess there's nothing I can do about it though."

"Nope, you can't do anything about it."

"You know you could just always walk by yourself if you want to."

"Now why on earth would I do that? It's much nicer walking with you next to me."

Akali blushed a little at Shen's comment, but kept walking with him. It wasn't like they were going to be walking the whole way back to the temple. They had arranged a transport back, although Shen wondered what the bumps on the road would feel like with his new injury. He still couldn't do much with his left arm, so if he fell that way he was pretty much screwed. In the end it didn't matter. Shen had found that the most comfortable position in the cabin was to simply lay down across the seat. Akali was lying down on the seat across from him with her hands placed over her sides. Something that she had started to do without realizing, but Shen couldn't see it being a problem in the future. He would probably rub the mark on his chest for the rest of his life, which, judging by the way things had gone for him in the past few days, might not be as long as he hoped for.

The ride was a lot quicker than their run/walk/ambush. They arrived at the temple of the Elders a little over a day after they left the hospital. It was a weird feeling to be back at the place that had condemned them to death so many times. Akali couldn't shake the feeling that something else was going on that they weren't aware of. Shen insisted that she not help him into the temple, for fear of the Elders seeing him as week and unable to fill the role as the eye of twilight. It was hard for him to move at first, but after the first few painful steps Shen managed to walk normally, although he was much slower than he usually was.

The chamber for the Elders was exactly the same as it had been before they had left, although it was much darker in the room this time, making it harder for them to see the Elders that were sitting above them.

"Shen, you and Akali have failed on your mission to capture the traitor Yasuo. It has also been made clear to us that you let your emotions cloud your judgment during the conflict. Today you stand trial to see if you are still worthy to hold the position of the Eye of Twilight."

"And what exactly would you have me do so you can test me for my worthiness?"

"We would have you watch ."

Shen was confused at the request of the Elders, but a spotlight turned on and reviled the scene in front of Shen. Shen took a step back in shock at the scene before him, painful memories surfacing in his head.

"Surely you can't be serious Elders, I have already passed this trial once, I don't need to go through it again."

"If you have already passed this trial once then it should be no problem for you to endure it again."

The voice that rang out was all to familiar to Shen. He turned to where the voice had sounded from and spoke to the all to familiar elder.

"This was your idea, wasn't it. Actually no it wasn't your idea, it was Zed's. I know you've been in close contact with him, so don't bother denying it. No one would think up something this twisted without the sole purpose of trying to hurt me."

"No Shen, we are not trying to hurt you, if you truly are the Eye of Twilight then this shouldn't phase you in the least bit. However if your emotions over ride your judgment then you will be exiled from the Kinkou order, and we will revoke the title of the Eye of Twilight from you."

Shen looked down at the scene in front of him again. Somehow they had gotten the upper hand on Akali, and had tied her to a chair which now sat in the middle of the room. If they were going to test him their was only one thing they would do to her.

"You cannot expect me to sit back and watch one of my only friends get tortured."

"Yes Shen, we do. Now if you want to keep your position you will need to endure as you did when we tortured your father."

Shen said nothing, just looked into Akali's eyes. Understanding passed between them and Shen stepped back.

"Very well, if you must then I am in no position to stop you."

The Elder motioned at a side door and two men came through. They wore masks similar to Shen's, and he could only assume that they were others from the Kinkou order. The positioned themselves on either side of Akali and struck out. The cry of pain from her was almost enough to send Shen over the edge in anger. He knew they weren't going to be gentile, but the two men had punched her on either side of her stomach. Right where her wounds were still healing. Shen could see blood start to stain her clothing as the wounds opened back up. The men were relentless. They punched, kicked and even went as far as breaking several of her bones while she was tied down. When the two stopped Shen hadn't moved a muscle, his face was still impassive, but he was praying to whatever gods existed that it would be over soon. A soft moan escaped Akali's lips, and one of the men slapped her hard across her face. The other undid Akali's bindings and pulled her up by her hair. Shen allowed his hopes to rise for a second, but they were quickly dashed as as the men proceeded to tie her to a post so that she was in a standing position. Her legs quickly gave out after the first couple of hits and the only reason she stayed up was because of the ropes that held her hands. Shen saw one of the men nod to the other one, who pulled down his mask to reveal a sneer on his face. He walked over to Akali and held her face up by her chin, and roughly kissed her. Her eyes widened in shock and she tried to pull away from the man, but her struggles were ended when the other hit her in her ribs, (two of which were already broken). The first man pulled away from her with an evil grin on his face and ripped off her shirt. Shen watched in horror, and couldn't believe what was happening. They were going to rape Akali right in front of him. How could the Elders let such and act go unpunished? The fear in her eyes was too much for Shen to bear, and he knew he had to act fast.

Akali was in a world of pain. She was willing to endure it if it meant that Shen would not be exiled, but when one of the men kissed her, she knew that things had taken a turn for the worse. She couldn't do anything as he started to remove her clothing and touched her naked body. It was the worst thing she could think off happening, and she knew that if Shen interfered that it would be over for both of them. Suddenly she felt the pressure of the man vanish, and clod air wash across her body. She opened her eyes to see Shen standing there with one arm around the mans neck, and the other twisting his arm in at a very painful angle.

"SHEN! You have shown that you are not able to keep your emotions in check, and are hereby..."

A single sword buried itself deep in the wood next to the Elders hand, who fell backwards in shock.

"I have judged this man as a criminal to Ionia. From the way he so simply acted the way he did, and from the look of immense pleasure on his face, which suggests that he has acted out this way before, I the Eye of Twilight, judge him unworthy to walk in this land. May his soul ever be tormented on the shadow isle for the rest of eternity."

With that Shen snapped the mans neck, and let him fall unceremoniously to the ground. Walking over the dead man Shen approached the second man, who had produced his own weapons to defend himself.

"For this man, I do not judge him as harshly as the first. But the fact remains that he allowed such an act of horror happen, and even gave the first man permission to engage in such an act. With such knowledge before me I judge him as no more than a criminal found in the streets of Noxus."

Shen walked over to the man with his second sword in his right hand, his first one still buried in the wood of the Elders desk. To the mans credit he did manage to land on blow onto Shen before he was beaten to a pulp. Even with just one arm Shen left the man on the ground, with all ligaments to his arms and legs severed, in a matter of seconds.

With the two men disposed of, Shen walked over to the nearest Elder and pointed his sword at his neck.

"Give me your cloak."

The man quickly did as Shen asked, after seeing him dispatch the two men without any trouble, or showing any signs of anger. The elder did not want to know what would happen if he accidentally made this ninja angry. Akali felt the tension of the ropes suddenly vanish, and felt herself falling. She was surprised when she didn't hit the ground though. She felt a strong arm around her, and someone place a cloak over her exposed body. Shen lifted her off her feet and held her body close to his.

"Today you Elders have decided to break one of the largest symbols of strength to Ionia. You took your fiercest warrior, and treated her like she was a woman you got off the streets for a few coin. Today I judge you, as the Eye of Twilight, to be unworthy of your position on this council. I would suggest that you give up your titles and move the responsibilities of this council to the council that is made up of the Ionian champions. They have shown better wisdom than you have when they do something stupid. If you do not do this within two weeks I will personally hunt you down and bring you before a court to be tried as criminals. And I'm sure after the events of today, that several people I know would help me in my hunt."

Shen turned around and walked out of the room without so much as looking back. He would be reporting the council to the League no matter what happened, and would see them tried before the law. He felt Akali stir in his arms and looked down quickly to see if something was wrong. Her eyes fluttered open weakly, and she tried to smile at Shen.

"Where are we going Shen?"

"We're going to the league Akali, you are to be treated by the best healers in the world there."

Akali felt happy to know that Shen was still taking care of her.

"Are you just trying to impress me with your connections Shen? Cause you know that wont work."

Shen let out a small laugh at what she said and held her closer.

"No Akali, I only want to give you the best I have to offer."

Akali was still smiling when she slipped into unconsciousness, happy to know that Shen really did love her.


	8. to clear up some confusion

p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"I want to clear up a little confusion that has been brought to my attention about my story. A few people have asked me how Akali and Shen survived, and someone even mentioned that it sounded like Zed was the one that saved them. It says in chapter 6 that the same man that had tried to kill them ended up saving them. This refers to the man who was their target, (the one that put the two cuts in Akali's stomach), who is in fact Yasuo. I know its confusing, but if you look back another chapter when Shen receives the assignment from the council of Elders, they tell him the name of his target, (they refer to him as the traitor Yasuo). Hopefully the way I described his fighting style will help clear up who he is, (you know Yasuo's little dash-to-spinny thing). So hopefully this helps with any confusion, and to address one more topic, I have more to the story even though it seams done, and yes their will be another encounter, (if not several), between Zed and Shen./span/p 


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